I first went to NashBash back in 2008 when both Joe and I were new to playing and had just started dating. Our college still goes and we were fortunate enough to catch up with a few old friends. I also have an amazing friend from my time abroad in Africa who lives in Nashville, so seeing her was an extra treat. And as always, it involved an immense amount of beer, mud, and dancing so I am a very happy camper.
I wish I had pictures from all of the awesome rugby that happened, but I decided not to bring my big fancy camera around for three days of debauchery. Fortunately, someone else did! These pictures come to you courtesy of Becky Roberts:
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
After raining all night Sunday's game was just a little bit muddy...
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
photo by Becky Roberts
After the game Joe, our friend Crane, and I hit the road for Chicago. As soon as we started driving it began to rain. And then downpour. And then snow. And before we knew it roads were snow upon slush that would eventually freeze. I kept checking the weather, which basically told us we were driving straight up a storm that was at it's worst where we were and that wouldn't let up until morning. Joe drove from 1:30 till 9:30, at which point we gave up and called it a night in the lovely Lafayette, Indiana.
We'd been eating greasy fried food since Friday afternoon so our goal for dinner was anything but fast food. We saw a sign for a restaurant called Hour Time and figured that was about as good as it would get. We cautiously exited the highway and drifted into the parking lot of the Best Western next door. It even has sports channels, so the dudes were pretty pumped- it is March Madness, after all!
Before we could go in the boys had to throw snowballs at the handicapped sign to see who could make it.
So we enter this fine establishment to realize that is is very clearly closed... and also very creepy.
It's empty in here and we split off to go to the bathroom breaking horror movie rule number one.
After reconvening, we enter the totally vacant hotel lobby of the Best Western next door. Maybe it's the silliness of brains after an 8 hour car ride, or my love of all things Stephen King, but it didn't take long for the references to the Shining and the Twilight Zone to start up. A woman came in and got in line for the counter, followed by a woman toting a kid in his flannel PJ's. Everyone was quiet (except for us) and was impatiently waiting in line for a desk with no one behind it. While waiting we explored the lobby...
The decor lent itself pretty well to the creep-factor with the dark carpets, full size dog sculptures, and old paintings.
And then the phone started ringing. And kept ringing. And still no one came to the desk. It only made us laugh harder about the Twilight Zone we stumbled into, and the people in line started to look a little uneasy themselves.
Finally, a woman came out and we got ourselves a room (thanks again Mom and Dad!). Being totally starving and just realizing that it's actually 10:30 their time, we were a little option limited and ended up at an IHOP.
On the way we saw our most cringe-worthy mishap of the storm. A truck had easily driven over a curb to get the parking lot on the other side, but his U-haul trailer did not have such luck. The wheels were entirely left behind, while the trailer followed after him. After a lovely meal we headed back to our room and cuaght up on the games before crashing hard.
So how much snow did they get?
And after breakfast at Hour Time we hit the road again for another few hours of slightly-less-crappy roads.
This morning we could even see enough to tell we were surrounded by windmills! And a lot of destruction leftovers from the night before including 16 cars off the road, 1 18-wheeler, some lost bumpers, and this broken sign:
And then I made it home late for a meeting with classmates to a Chicago that didn't even get a dusting of snow. I swear, we really did get stuck!
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